I'm with you, TexCruise. It's clear that this young man - and probably his companions as well - intended this to be a "party" cruise for themselves, and the cruise line cannot be held responsible for their smuggling booze onboard with them - either that, or no one had better complain about having all luggage searched and alcoholic beverages seized at embarkation!

And for the RCCL bashers, 12 cruise ship passengers have gone into the water or disappeared in 11 incidents involving cruise ships that frequent U.S. ports since 2000. Five passengers disappeared in the past 11 months from Carnival Cruise Lines ships. (See http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville /stories/2005/06/06/story1.html)

Bringing a lawsuit against a ship that flys a foreign flag is not that easy. I know first hand. In 2000 while my daughter and son-in-law were on their honeymoon aboard the NCCL Norway my son-in-law became paralyzed for no apparent reason. The ship Dr said he probably had a pinched nerve. My son-in-law wanted to be airlifted off the ship and they refused. Their reason was, they would have to stop the ship and it would anger the passengers. For 4 days he remained in the infirmary unable to move from the waist down. By the time the ship docked he was paralyzed from the neck down. He was taken to a Miami hospital where it was determined that he had a tumor between his lung and spine. The Dr explained that there is a 24 hour window in which the paralysis could have been reversed. He was now permenently paralyzed. We spoke to many lawyers and all said we had a case. 3 months later the lawyers dropped the case saying that maritime laws prevent lawsuits against a ship that flys a foreign flag once it is 7 miles out to sea. That the only way we could bring a lawsuit against them was to persue it in Norway. Not one Norwiegn lawyer would return our call. In the end NCCL refunded their cruise fare and four months after they were married my son-in-law died. He was only 24. There must be better security on cruise ships but we must take responsibility for our own actions. Hopefully this family through their loss will realize that what their son did was wrong and no one else should be held accountable. I feel there should be better survailance. All areas of the outside decks and balcony cabins should be monitored. Then maybe all these mysteries will be solved quickly. When it comes to alchohol people do supid things they would not nomally do if sober. When my children go on cruises (26-35) I always preach "don't be stupid!" I can just see someone drunk saying "look what I can do!" You do not just fall off a ship. You have to literally climb up to fall off or have help being pushed off.

I watched the Mariner leave port last Sunday night. We were at Fishlips eating dinner. What is extremely weird about the whole matter is this...When we boarded the Sovereign on Monday, one passenger got so drunk he had alcohol poisoning. But they were able to treat him onboard ship. There was a chance that the USCG might have had to take him back from CoCo Cay.

I feel for the family of that young man. But many of the younger ones including the 18 - 20 y.o. that parental units allow to drink beer and wine. Get so darn drunk.

As far as checking the luggage they do that but again they would be calling each individual down to open the luggage thus making the system slower than it is.

Have I taken anything onboard? Yes

But only as a pre dinner drink. Last week we spent $400 on drinks. But out of those drinks I brought home 25 glasses. So at least 25 drinks costed me around $10 each with tip included in that $10.

The cruise lines make a ton of money off booze. They may build higher rails. But you know something people will still go missing.

And to the question of how many go missing on driving trips....

More than you can think. Think of how many people go missing in foreign countries....